Post your before and after pictures here.
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The day I was driving the Sun Road in Glacier Park we got an early start; most of my shots were made before 10:00 AM. With the high peaks that made for some extreme examples of light and shadow 'cause the sun hadn't made it down in the depressions yet.

Here is one I worked on today:

DSC_1284-Before.jpg
DSC_1284-Before.jpg (163.25 KiB) Viewed 1461 times

DSC_1284-After.jpg
DSC_1284-After.jpg (193.09 KiB) Viewed 1461 times


Somebody can probably tell me an easier way :D , but what I did was use two Levels Adjustment Layers -- one to bring out detail in the dark foreground and another to tone down the background just a bit. I only had to construct one layer mask and then used it for both, just inverted from one to the other.
(I also replaced the sky)

Sun-Road-How.jpg
Sun-Road-How.jpg (192.08 KiB) Viewed 1460 times


Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Looks good Rusty. If you use raw you should take a look at the last post by snowfall.
Great shot and treatment! That would also have been a good candidate for an HDR treatment, methinks.
GeneVH

My SmugMug
My PrestoPhoto
Now on Flickr

CS5/LR4/Nikon D300 & D70s/Win7
Interesting thought, Gene,
I never thought of that ... probably because I have yet to get good results with the HDR treatment outlined by Matt Kloskowski. This image was no exception...

DSC_1284-HDR.jpg
DSC_1284-HDR.jpg (127.19 KiB) Viewed 1420 times


I like what it did to the background, but not the sky. There's probably a way to get rid of the halo along the edge of the mountains but I'm not sure how. The foreground is way too blue, IMHO, and playing with changing the Hue with a masked adjustment layer might do something there.

I will keep trying but, as I say, so far I haven't done so hot with that Faux HDR technique.

Suzi, I usually shoot in Raw. But, for a trip expected to produce 500 or so images I did most everything in either Jpeg-Normal or Jpeg-Fine. Just too time consuming processing everything in ACR just to be able to identify and quickly delete all the culls.

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Hmm....that didn't work out like I thought it might..... :|
GeneVH

My SmugMug
My PrestoPhoto
Now on Flickr

CS5/LR4/Nikon D300 & D70s/Win7
Rusty, Do you have photomatix? If so, can process twice: 1 for shadows and 1 for highlights and use the average feature to blend-don't have to make a mask then and comes out a lot like the 1st you did.
No, Linda,
don't have that. Sounds interesting.

I have had good success, when shooting in Raw, to process the image twice in ACR, sometimes three times. Once for highlights, once for shadows and maybe a third time for midtones. Then I stack those images in one file as layers. But, of course, there's still the need to spend the time masking and blending the layers. I usually use a simple clipping mask; that goes quickly.

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Rusty,
Have you tried Kimi's contrast mask? It works quite well on photos that have blown highlights or too dark shadows.
Chas
Chas's Gallery
f/16 on a sunny day.....:)
Yeah, Chas,

I've done that; like it. You know, it's funny... we learn how to do something, overuse it for weeks on image after image, get pretty good at it. Then we learn something else and the cycle repeats. It's been months and months since I've even thought about using Kimi's Contrast Mask.

You are right, that would probably work well with this image. My problem is how to remember all the different things i have learned . :doh:

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Senior moments strike again...... :D
Chas
Chas's Gallery
f/16 on a sunny day.....:)
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